I found a fairly mediocre bakery nearby and a friendly woman made me a weak americano (and some very friendly workmen opened the door, thanks). I decided to just wander a bit to get my bearings and found the nearest subway station and a little park. It was nice. Then I went back to the apartment to distract Corinne from her job search (she had no beer to steal, so I had to ensure I was a poor guest somehow).
Later, I was going to meet Candice down at Bathurst station. I felt pretty authentic, like a real Torontonian, walking with certainty to the subway (the quickest route through the park!) and knowing what lines I was taking, in which direction and to where. I love pretending that I know what I'm doing, which is good, because I'll be doing that a lot.
I met Can and she was as beautiful and petite as ever. I just wanted to scoop her up! We meandered down College street looking for a little Italian patio to grab a bite, and happened to stop at a very cheap little empty restaurant. It was actually quite nice. We shared a pizza and a salad and each had a beer for $26. Pretty good deal, I'd say. It was nice that there were so few people there, and by few, I mean none, because Can and I had 5 years worth of stories to catch up on. Let's just say, there were no awkward silences, and after dinner we moved on to another patio where we drank a sufficient amount of wine to warrant a shawarma later.
Going back to Corinne's I was going to catch the subway. I made the first train, to get to Spadina where I then had to transfer. Unfortunately, it did not look too promising that I would make a successful transfer, as the station was eerily empty. But the screen said a train was coming in 2 minutes, so I decided to wait. The train came in 2 minutes, but it did not stop, so I guess I had missed the last train and went and caught a cab. The cab driver was a kind man from Bangladesh who was immensely impressed that I knew where Bangladesh is (is this not common knowledge?). He educated me about Bangladesh, which was great (I really had no idea that Bangladesh was once considered East Pakistan, considering Pakistan and Bangladesh are not exactly side by side). He refused to take all of the tip I tried to give him saying it was "too much." That's a first for me! I guess it pays (literally) to take an interest other people.
Friday I woke up late. Corinne and I got ready and went downtown to take a tour of the Steamwhistle brewery. Corinne was not feeling well though, so she went home and I did the tour alone. It turns out I'm more interested in drinking beer than knowing how it's made, but it was fun nonetheless.
After the tour I decided to go seek out a bookstore. I had to leave my behemoth of a novel back in Vancouver, as it really would not fit in my purse, and hence I have been traveling without a book. I walked all the way up Spadina to U of T, where there were many bookstores for my perusal. I decided on a small book about Tristan and Iseult.
Pleased with my purchase, I then walked back down Spadina to King to meet Marina. On my way, who should call, but Tristan! He called to say he had booked his flights. Now 10 days in Greece! Amazing. After our brief chat, my phone was dying, so I quickly found a patio so that I could text Marina before my phone died and we could meet. In my haste, I chose very poorly, and found myself on a scuzzy patio on Bathurst. Oh well. A beer is a beer is a beer, I guess. And, I now had a book for company.
I had not seen Marina for 4 years. I have to say, all this visiting of old friends is extremely exhilarating. I am in a constant state of (drunken) elation. We went out for sushi and then picked up some wine to go back to her place, where we met up with her friend, Andrea.
We had a great time catching up, of course, and I did not leave Marina's until well after 2 am. Toronto has 24 hour bus service though, so I managed to grab a bus and get back to Corinne and Leslie's without too much ado.
So today I'm packing up my stuff and moving in with Marina. She has a tiny apartment, so we'll be cozy for sure. Tonight we're going to go see some live music, which is great, because for all the catching up I've been doing, I really haven't gone out on the town. Also, it looks like I won't have internet access while I'm with Marina, so I will probably be out of touch for the rest of the weekend. I'm hoping to catch up Melissa (my old roommate from first year) and perhaps Svetlana tomorrow. I'm also hoping I can find someone to brave the CN tower with me tomorrow, since I've never actually done it.
Monday I'll be in Ottawa.
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